"He crawled under the bus and repaired the toilet" - Kimi Raikkonen's manager recalls incident that left the staff 'with their mouths open'

In a rare move, Kimi Raikkonen has opened up about his private life to author Kari Hotakainen for a book about the Formula 1 driver, titled “The Unknown Kimi Raikkonen”.

Hotakainen was granted exclusive access to Raikkonen's life at home and on the track. He also spoke with those closest to the Finn, collecting several interesting anecdotes in the process.

One such story came from Raikkonen's manager Sami Visa, who recalled an incident from pre-season testing at Barcelona in 2017. He said (via F1 website):

“Kimi noticed the toilet of the Ferrari bus didn’t work properly. He went to ask the staff for tools. The incredulous workers handed an implement to the star driver. During his investigation, Kimi remarked that his boat had a similar system. He crawled under the bus and repaired the toilet in no time at all. The staff were left with their mouths open.”

The book also has the story behind Raikkonen's nickname — The Iceman. The 43-year-old began his F1 career at Sauber, where he stayed for a season before moving to McLaren. It was at the Woking-based outfit that he worked under Ron Dennis, who came up with the nickname.

Explaining the same in the book, Hotakainen wrote (via F1 website):

“It amounts to no more than half of what Kimi is, but defines his professional identity accurately: he comes from a cold climate, drives fast and talks little; he doesn’t explain anything, does his job to the best of his ability, and then moves on to the next race. A little later, the role will entail wearing dark glasses everywhere except in the shower.”

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Sebastian Vettel names former Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen the most 'natural' driver in F1

Sebastian Vettel has named Kimi Raikkonen the most 'naturally' gifted driver on the Formula 1 grid. While there have been many drivers the German has competed against, it has been the Finn's driving style that has impressed him the most.

Speaking on an episode of the Beyond the Grid podcast, Vettel said:

"If there was a discipline of switching cars every day, after 10 days, Kimi will be lapping everyone else. Just because he's a natural. It doesn't take time [for Kimi] to adapt to the car, to what the car requires. You give him a steering wheel, and he knows what to do."